Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
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Lead | ECON | ARGYROS Stelios (PPE) | |
Opinion | JURI | MEDINA ORTEGA Manuel (PSE) |
Legal Basis RoP 132
Activites
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1997/09/22
Final act published in Official Journal
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1997/07/17
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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T4-0390/1997
summary
In adopting the report by Mr Stelios ARGYROS (PPE, G), the European Parliament expressed support for the Commission's efforts to formulate the principles which would govern the agreements affording new operators access to public contract procedures in the field of telecommunications and the enforcement of the competition rules by the national regulatory authorities. It called on the Member States which had requested an extension of the deadline for liberalization to step up their efforts to fulfil the necessary conditions for liberalizing the telecommunications sector so that a single European market could be established. It called on the Commission to clarify how it intended to regulate international access agreements between the liberalized and non-liberalized telecommunications markets during the period in which certain Member States would be exempt from full liberalization, in order to ensure fair competition during that transitional period. Parliament called for a European regulatory authority to be set up, particularly to resolve technical problems, while at the same time advocating that cooperation between national regulatory authorities and the Commission be stepped up. It considered that national regulatory authorities should be independent of the public organizations supplying telecommunications networks and that it should be possible to fine enterprises which breached Community competition rules. Parliament went on to call on the Commission: - to clarify the relation between the forthcoming ONP directive on interconnection and access agreements, ensure that they were compatible and determine the extent to which the directive applied to access agreements, with particular regard to the provisions concerning the possibility of recourse to the European level for the settlement of disputes; - to adopt a more flexible and global approach to assessing dominant positions; - to specify provision of equal access as one of the principal obligations of all telecommunications network providers and to ensure that the technical specifications required for access, the digital broadcasting sector included, did not constitute a means of abusing a dominant position. Parliament stressed the importance of greater pricing transparency and that prices should be determined in the light of objective criteria (prices should not be excessive). It was also important to ensure that liberalization of telecommunications services and infrastructure did not damage the interests of users; services in this sector must be universal. Lastly, Parliament stressed the need for the Community regulatory framework for access agreements to be consistent with the regulations applying in third countries, and urged the Commission to take this into account in negotiations with these countries. �
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T4-0390/1997
summary
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1997/07/15
Debate in Parliament
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Debate in Parliament
summary
The rapporteur wanted up-to-date legislation compatible with the rapid technological developments, totally open access to services and the avoidance of monopolies by applying objective criteria. Commissioner Van Miert welcomed the generally positive tone of the report on the Commission’s draft communication. As regards the transitional period, the Commissioner gave a few examples (in particular the interconnection tariffs of ‘Deutsche Telekom’ which he considered were too high) of problems which the Commission had been forced to take into account. Finally, the Commissioner assured Parliament that the final text of the communication would be available in the autumn.
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Debate in Parliament
summary
- 1997/06/18 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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1997/01/15
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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1996/12/10
Non-legislative basic document published
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COM(1996)0649
summary
OBJECTIVE: the draft communication seeks to set out how the Commission intends to apply the competition rules to access agreements in the telecommunications sector. SUBSTANCE: the Commission considers that in the telecommunications sector access agreements are the essential elements which allow those involved in the market to benefit from liberalization. The communication thus presents a group of rules seeking to assist the companies providing telecommunications services to have access to existing networks in competition with current suppliers. To this end the text: - sets out the access principles stemming from EU competition law in order to create greater market certainty and more stable conditions for investment and commercial initiative in the telecommunications and multimedia sectors; - defines and clarifies the relationship between competition law and sector specific legislation under the Article 100a framework (in particular this relates to the relationship between competition rules and Open Network Provision legislation); - explains how competition rules will be applied in a consistent way across the converging sectors involved in the provision of new multimedia services, and in particular to access issues and gateways in this context. In conclusion, the Commission considers that competition rules and sector specific regulation form a coherent set of measures to ensure a liberalised and competitive market environment for telecommunications markets in the EU. In taking action in this sector, the Commission will aim to avoid unnecessary duplication of procedures, in particular competition procedures and national/EU regulatory procedures as set out under the ONP framework. It should be noted that this draft communication has been published for public consultation only. A final version will be published when the ONP interconnection directive has been finally approved by Parliament and Council. �
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COM(1996)0649
summary
Documents
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0649
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0213/1997
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0390/1997
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